what I should think
I have a group of friends that are of a certain type. Well, we are diverse in many ways - race, gender, orientation, financial, pairing, background - but generally we belong into that category of people that think we know it all. Bush is bad, consumerism is bad, diversity is good, no more war, sushi - yum, etc.
basically, intelelctual liberals.
One of the tenents of this group is open-mindedness, yet there are certain things that are held to be givens and disagreeing will get you shunned. Now I agree with most of these: I'm not a fan of Bush; believe anyone should be able to marry anyone else (given that they gain approval from any current spouses and are not closely related); and don't care who my friends are, as long as I like them.
But, some of the things I disagree with: For instance, I hate the New York Times - I find them to be elitist and to have totally lost the mission of a newspaper which is to serve the readers (not the fou-fou readers, all the readers); while I do like indie and foreign films, I don't think subtitles or a small CGI-budget make a movie inherently better (witness Incredibles which was one of my favorites of last year); I'm not inherently against war or death - a topic I'll get into someday; and I like violent video games - they're great stress relief.
So where is this all leading? How can supposedly open-minded people, willing to examine all sides of an issue before making a decision, still be interested in the I-Pod shuffle? Wait, okay, that annoys me, but I'm not here to talk about Pod people.
The thing is, how can hypocrisy of this magnitude not be noticed? You're either open-minded, meaning you do not automatically condemn any action until you've examined as much of the story as possible or you are as bad as the people you so often disdain.
That's that for now. More on the I-Pods later.
basically, intelelctual liberals.
One of the tenents of this group is open-mindedness, yet there are certain things that are held to be givens and disagreeing will get you shunned. Now I agree with most of these: I'm not a fan of Bush; believe anyone should be able to marry anyone else (given that they gain approval from any current spouses and are not closely related); and don't care who my friends are, as long as I like them.
But, some of the things I disagree with: For instance, I hate the New York Times - I find them to be elitist and to have totally lost the mission of a newspaper which is to serve the readers (not the fou-fou readers, all the readers); while I do like indie and foreign films, I don't think subtitles or a small CGI-budget make a movie inherently better (witness Incredibles which was one of my favorites of last year); I'm not inherently against war or death - a topic I'll get into someday; and I like violent video games - they're great stress relief.
So where is this all leading? How can supposedly open-minded people, willing to examine all sides of an issue before making a decision, still be interested in the I-Pod shuffle? Wait, okay, that annoys me, but I'm not here to talk about Pod people.
The thing is, how can hypocrisy of this magnitude not be noticed? You're either open-minded, meaning you do not automatically condemn any action until you've examined as much of the story as possible or you are as bad as the people you so often disdain.
That's that for now. More on the I-Pods later.
posted by Chris at 4:58 PM
3 Comments:
OH NO!!! Don't look down on people who love iPods. {{begs on hands and knees}} It's not like I can help being addicted! :)
But if you don't like them, then that's your opinion, and you're entitled to it. And, on second thought, feel free to bash those pod people -- me included. We have differences of opinion, and we're different, and that's what makes life great!
But here is my ode:
Dancing to the Tune of an Addiction
This slick, white contraption they've named the iPod has taken over my world! It should come with a warning and a patch. Like flowers in my hair do the sounds of new music float around my ears. So. Much. Music.
Um, is it bad form to comment in resposne to comments on your blog? if so, sorry.
I just wanted to clarify that I do not think I-Pods are bad. I'm just annoyed by people touting them as the current greatest thing, but not even bothering to look at the options.
Personally, I love my MP3 player, but it's not an iPod. I did look at the pods, but decided that smaller, lighter, and cheaper equaled better. (Not to mention, mine works with just about every computer - pods need OSX or XP - and can download digital pictures from a flash card - without the $100 attachement needed for an iPod- and could display photos about a year before IPod Photo was anounnced)
But, if I wanted to spend a lot for white headphones, I'd definitely byy an IPod...
Okay, that was snarky. I just think that people are blinded by marketing where iPods are concerned. And this annoys me.
Plus, the pod people comparison is way too easy.
But it's soooo pretty!
Oh, just kidding! (The white headphones suck!)
What can I say? I AM a sucker for marketing, and I AM an impulse buyer. I'm hopeless! I may have paid more and gotten less, but I knew that going into it, and I'm still happy with my purchase.
Just because it's cheaper and tastier to make my own cheeseburger, I still go to McDonald's with the rest of the masses. Does that make me a sucker for marketing? Same goes for Sam's Choice soda and Coca-Cola. Coke isn't necessarily the best product on the market in everyone's opinion, but it is my preference.
I'm glad you like your MP3 player (don't know brand or capacity). But you have to give a nod to the marketing geniuses at Apple for being able to subconciously apply a company, a brand and a product segment to a single, four-letter word.
Didn't mean for this to turn into such a argumentative discussion. Sry. :) I'll be interested to see your blog entry on this. Till then, I'll keep quiet. {{zips lip}}
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